Portable Computer Hard Drive Structures

ABSTRACT

Portable computer structures are provided. The portable computer structures may include hard drive mounting structures. The hard drive mounting structures may include elastomeric support members. Each elastomeric support member may have a relatively rigid inner portion. The inner portion may include a hole that receives a hard drive mounting pin. Each elastomeric support member may also have a relatively flexible outer portion. The relatively flexible outer portion may be mounted within an opening in a plastic support member. The rigid inner portion may have a square outline and may be mounted within a square opening in the flexible outer portion.

This application is a divisional of patent application Ser. No.13/458,628, filed Apr. 27, 2012, which is a continuation of patentapplication Ser. No. 12/340,574, filed Dec. 19, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No.8,179,673, which claims the benefit of provisional patent applicationNo. 61/105,041, filed Oct. 13, 2008, all of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. This applicationclaims the benefit of and claims priority to patent application Ser. No.13/458,628, filed Apr. 27, 2012, patent application Ser. No. 12/340,574,filed Dec. 19, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,179,673, and provisional patentapplication No. 61/105,041, filed Oct. 13, 2008.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, tohard disk drive structures for electronic devices such as portablecomputers.

Designers of portable computers are faced with competing demands. Forexample, it is generally desirable to reduce the weight of a portablecomputer, so that a user is not burdened by an overly heavy device. Atthe same time, durability and aesthetics should not suffer. Often,weight can be saved, but only at the expense of reducing the size orstrength of device components. Similarly, it may be possible to improvedevice appearance, but only at the expense of making a device morefragile and susceptible to damage. For example, it may be difficult toform robust hard drive mounting structures.

It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved harddrive mounting structures for electronic devices such as portablecomputers.

SUMMARY

Portable computers with improved hard disk drive subsystems areprovided.

A hard disk drive subsystem may be provided that exhibits enhanceddurability. The hard drive subsystem may have mounting structures thathelp to protect the drive from damage.

The hard drive mounting structures may include elastomeric supportmembers. Each elastomeric support member may have a relatively rigidinner portion. The inner portion may include a hole that receives a harddrive mounting pin. Each elastomeric support member may also have arelatively flexible outer portion. The relatively flexible outer portionmay be mounted within an opening in a plastic or metal support member.The rigid inner portion may have a square outline and may be mountedwithin a square opening in the flexible outer portion.

A noise reduction structure may be provided that helps to reducevibration and associated noise in a hard drive. The noise reductionstructure may have a planar member such as a copper-weighted sheet, astainless steel-weighted sheet, or any other structure that has asuitable weight. The member may be mounted to the planar surface of ahard disk drive with adhesive.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantageswill be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative portable computer inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an interior portion of a portablecomputer showing an illustrative hard disk drive mounting location inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of illustrative structures thatmay be used in mounting a hard disk drive in a portable computer inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are partial cross sectional perspective views ofillustrative hard disk drive mounting structures in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an illustrative noise reductionstructure that may be mounted to a hard disk drive in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to portable computer structures. Portablecomputer structures may be provided that enhance the functionality of aportable computer while retaining or even improving desired levels ofdurability and aesthetics.

An illustrative electronic device such as a portable computer in whichthe portable computer structures may be provided is shown in FIG. 1. Asshown in FIG. 1, portable computer 10 may have a housing 12. Housing 12,which is sometimes referred to as a case, may be formed from one or moreindividual structures. For example, housing 12 may have a mainstructural support member that is formed from a solid block of machinedaluminum or other suitable metal. One or more additional structures maybe connected to the housing 12. These structures may include, forexample, internal frame members, external coverings such as sheets ofmetal, etc. Housing 12 and its associated components may, in general, beformed from any suitable materials such as such as plastic, ceramics,metal, glass, etc. Ad advantage of forming housing 12 at least partlyfrom metal is that metal is durable and attractive in appearance. Metalssuch as aluminum may be anodized to form an insulating oxide coating.

Case 12 may have an upper portion 26 and a lower portion 28. Lowerportion 28 may be referred to as the base or main unit of computer 10and may contain components such as a hard disk drive, battery, and mainlogic board. Upper portion 26, which is sometimes referred to as a coveror lid, may rotate relative to lower portion 28 about rotational axis16. Portion 18 of computer 10 may contain a hinge and associated clutchstructures and is sometimes referred to as a clutch barrel.

Lower housing portion 28 may have a slot such as slot 22 through whichoptical disks may be loaded into an optical disk drive. Lower housingportion may also have a touchpad such as touchpad 24 and may have keys20. If desired, additional components may be mounted to upper and lowerhousing portions 26 and 28. For example, upper and lower housingportions 26 and 28 may have ports to which cables can be connected(e.g., universal serial bus ports, an Ethernet port, a Firewire port,audio jacks, card slots, etc.). Buttons and other controls may also bemounted to housing 12.

If desired, upper and lower housing portions 26 and 28 may havetransparent windows through which light may be emitted (e.g., fromlight-emitting diodes). This type of arrangement may be used, forexample, to display status information to a user. Openings may also beformed in the surface of upper and lower housing portions to allow soundto pass through the walls of housing 12. For example, openings may beformed for microphone and speaker ports. With one illustrativearrangement, speaker openings such as speaker openings 30 may be formedin lower housing portion 28 by creating an array of small openings(perforations) in the surface of housing 12.

A display such as display 14 may be mounted within upper housing portion26. Display 14 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD),organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, or plasma display (asexamples). A glass panel may be mounted in front of display 14. Theglass panel may help add structural integrity to computer 10. Forexample, the glass panel may make upper housing portion 26 more rigidand may protect display 14 from damage due to contact with keys or otherstructures.

Computer 10 may have input-output components such as touch pad 24. Touchpad 24 may include a touch sensitive surface that allows a user ofcomputer 10 to control computer 10 using touch-based commands(gestures). A portion of touchpad 24 may be depressed by the user whenthe user desires to “click” on a displayed item on screen 14.

Part of the interior of housing portion 28 of portable computer 10 isshown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, hard disk drive 34 may be mountedwithin housing portion 28 using support members 36 and 38. Supportmembers 36 and 38 may be formed from plastic or other suitablematerials. Members such as members 36 and 38 are sometimes referred toas hard drive mounting brackets or support structures. Hard drive 34 maybe mounted between front edge 58 of housing portion 28 and midwall 32 ormay be mounted within housing portion 28 at another suitable location.Midwall 32, which may be formed from metal or other suitable materials,may be attached to housing portion 28 using screws, adhesive, welds, orother suitable attachment mechanisms. Members 36 and 38 may also beattached to housing portion 28 using adhesive and welds. To allow harddrive 34 to be removed for servicing, it may be advantageous to attachmembers 36 and 38 to housing portion 28 using a fastening mechanism thatallows the nondestructive removal of hard drive 34. As an example,fasteners such as screws may be used. In the FIG. 2 example, screw 48 isused to attach member 36 to housing portion 28. Screws may also beinserted in holes in member 38 such as holes 60 to attach member 38 tohousing portion 28.

An exploded perspective view of a portion of computer 10 in the vicinityof hard drive 34 is shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, hard drive 34may be mounted in recessed region 40 of housing portion 28. Hard drive34 may have threaded holes 44 into which hard drive mounting pins(screws) such as pins 42 may be screwed.

The exposed tips of pins 42 may be received by mating holes in members46. Members 46, which are sometimes referred to a snubbers or bumpers,may be resilient. Upon impact, portions of members 46 may compress,thereby allowing the tips of pins 42 to move slightly. This absorbs partof the force of impact and prevents damage to hard drive 34. Forexample, upon an impact to device 10, the movement of pins 42 withinmembers 46 may help to prevent damage to hard drive 34 by isolating harddrive 34 from the force of the impact.

Members 46 may be formed using a two-shot plastic molding process. Anouter portion of each member 46 may be formed from a relatively softelastomeric material, whereas an inner ring portion may be formed from arelatively harder material. Members 46 are recessed into holes 54 inmember 38 and holes 56 in member 36. The members 46 that are associatedwith member 38 may each be provided as a single structure. The members46 that are associated with member 36 may each be formed from twosmaller half members 46A and 46B. The use of half members 46A and 46Ballow the upper half members 46B to be removed when it is desired torelease pins 42 (e.g., to remove hard drive 34 from computer 10 forservicing).

The cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 shows how each of the two-partelastomeric members 46 may have an upper half portion 46B and a lowerhalf portion 46A. Within each elastomeric member, outer ring portion 50may be formed from a material that is soft enough to compress when harddrive 34 is subject to a sharp force (e.g., when computer 10 isinadvertently dropped or computer 10 is inadvertently struck against anobject). Pins 42 are typically formed from metal or other rigidmaterial. It can be difficult to form a well controlled interfacebetween the relatively small round outer surface of pins 42 and a holeformed in a soft elastomer. Elastomeric support members 46 preferablyhave relatively rigid inner ring members 52 that help transfer forcebetween pins 42 and soft outer ring members 50. It has been demonstratedthat this type of arrangement makes it less likely that an unintendedimpact to device 10 will cause damage to hard drive 34.

Members 46 may be held in place by member 36 and lower housing portion28. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, member 36 and housing portion 28may bear against members 46A and 46B and thereby hold members 46A and46B in place. With one suitable arrangement, lower half portion 46A canbe mounted to structure 37 while upper half portion 46B is mounted tostructure 36. In this type of arrangement, when member 36 is detachedfrom device 10, members 46A and 46B may be split so that hard drivemounting pins 42 can slide out of the hole in the relatively rigid innerportion of member 46A (e.g., portion 52 of member 46A) and hard drive 36can be removed from device 10.

In general, members 46 may be formed from any suitable material. Forexample, members 46 may be formed from an elastomeric material such aselastomeric foam, silicone, rubber, silicone rubber, a thermoplasticelastomeric (TPE) such as a thermoplastic polyurethane polymer, etc.

While members 46 are illustrated herein as being substantiallyrectangular in shape, members 46 may be formed in any suitable shape.For example, members 46 may be formed in shapes such as a circle, asquare, a triangle, a rhombus, an ellipse, an oval, etc. If desired,outer ring portion 50 may have a different shape than inner ring portion52. For example, the interface between inner ring portion 52 and outerring portion 50 can be circular while the outer portion of outer ringportion 50 is square.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the elastomeric support members46 associated with member 38. Members 46 of FIG. 5 may be formed fromunitary (non-split) structures. If desired, members 46 of FIG. 5 may besplit into structures of the type shown in FIG. 4 and members 46A and46B of FIG. 4 may be formed using a single-piece design. The arrangementof FIGS. 4 and 5 is merely illustrative. As shown in FIG. 5, member 38and lower housing portion 28 may bear against members 46 and therebyhold members 46 in place.

Moreover, each member 46 may be provided with additional materials(e.g., using a three shot process). The arrangement of FIGS. 4 and 5 inwhich each member is formed from a more rigid (less flexible) inner shotof material and a less rigid (more flexible) outer shot of material ismerely illustrative.

If desired, a noise reduction structure may be provided that helps toreduce vibration and associated noise in hard drive 34. As shown in FIG.6, hard drive 34 may be provided with a planar noise reducing member 62.Member 62 may include a planar sheet 62. Sheet 62 may be formed ofcopper or other relatively dense and heavy structure. Sheet 62 may bemounted to the planar surface of hard disk drive 34 with a layer ofadhesive 64. A printed label may be provided on the outer surface ofnoise reduction sheet 62 if desired. Because sheet 62 is relativelyheavy, the inclusion of sheet 62 alters that resonant frequency of harddrive 34 and helps to ensure that hard drive 34 does not resonate andproduce sound in a sensitive frequency range (e.g., the human vocalrange, which is approximately 80 Hz to 1100 Hz for the average human,and the human auditory range, which is approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz forthe average human). This helps to lessen the sonic impact of hard drive34 during operation.

Hard drive 34 is described herein as an example of an illustrativecomponent that can be mounted to the housing of device 10 using members46 (e.g., members with a relatively soft outer portion and a relativelyrigid inner portion). In general, any suitable component can be mountedto the housing of device 10 by members 46. For example, a battery, amain logic board, a circuit board, a display, and any other suitablecomponents may be mounted to the housing of device 10 using members 46.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this inventionand various modifications can be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. Noise reduction structures for a component thatresonates at a resonant frequency during operation, comprising: a planarsheet that is mounted to the component to alter the resonant frequencyof the component and that has an outer surface; and a printed label thatis mounted to the outer surface of the planar sheet.
 2. The noisereduction structures defined in claim 1 wherein the planar sheetcomprises a copper sheet.
 3. The noise reduction structures defined inclaim 1 further comprising adhesive between the planar sheet and thecomponent that secures the planar sheet to the component, wherein theplanar sheet alters the resonant frequency of the component by loweringthe resonant frequency.
 4. The noise reduction structures defined inclaim 1 further comprising adhesive between the planar sheet and thecomponent that secures the planar sheet to the component, wherein theplanar sheet alters the resonant frequency of the component by loweringthe resonant frequency to below 80 Hz.
 5. The noise reduction structuresdefined in claim 1 wherein the component comprises a component in aportable computer.
 6. A portable electronic device, comprising: acomponent that resonates at a resonant frequency during operation; anoise-reducing sheet that is mounted to the component to alter theresonant frequency of the component, wherein the noise-reducing sheethas an outer surface; and a printed label that is mounted to the outersurface of the noise-reducing sheet.
 7. The portable electronic devicedefined in claim 6 wherein the component comprises a hard drive.
 8. Theportable electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the sheetcomprises a copper sheet.
 9. The portable electronic device defined inclaim 6 wherein the portable electronic device comprises a portablecomputer.
 10. The portable electronic device defined in claim 6 furthercomprising adhesive between the noise-reducing sheet and the componentthat secures the noise-reducing sheet to the component.
 11. The portableelectronic device defined in claim 6 further comprising adhesive betweenthe noise-reducing sheet and the component that secures thenoise-reducing sheet to the component, wherein the noise-reducing sheetalters the resonant frequency of the component by lowering the resonantfrequency.
 12. The portable electronic device defined in claim 6 furthercomprising adhesive between the planar sheet and the component thatsecures the planar sheet to the component, wherein the planar sheetalters the resonant frequency of the component by lowering the resonantfrequency to below 80 Hz.
 13. An electronic device, comprising: acomponent that resonates at a resonant frequency during operation; anoise-reducing member that is mounted to the component and that reducesvibration and noise produced by the component, wherein thenoise-reducing member has an outer surface; and a printed label that ismounted to the outer surface of the noise-reducing member.
 14. Theelectronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the component comprises ahard drive.
 15. The electronic device defined in claim 13 wherein thenoise-reducing member comprises a copper-weighted sheet.
 16. Theelectronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the electronic devicecomprises a portable computer.
 17. The electronic device defined inclaim 13 further comprising adhesive between the noise-reducing memberand the component that secures the noise-reducing member to thecomponent.
 18. The electronic device defined in claim 13 furthercomprising adhesive between the noise-reducing member and the componentthat secures the noise-reducing member to the component, wherein thenoise-reducing member reduces vibration and noise produced by thecomponent by lowering the resonant frequency of the component.
 19. Theelectronic device defined in claim 13 further comprising adhesivebetween the noise-reducing member and the component that secures thenoise-reducing member to the component, wherein the noise-reducingmember reduces vibration and noise produced by the component by loweringthe resonant frequency of the component to below 80 Hz.
 20. Theelectronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the noise-reducing membercomprises a stainless steel-weighted sheet.